https://www.scmp.com/rss/325974/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Animal diplomacy can have powerful appeal, as French President Emmanuel Macron showed when he visited China this week. Keen to convey his “determination to get the Europe-China partnership into the 21st century”, the French leader gave President Xi Jinping a rare gelding horse named Vesuvius. The horse represented an “unprecedented diplomatic gesture”, Reuters quoted Macron’s office as saying. Macron gets the timing right in China as energetic standard-bearer for Europe Here is a look at some of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2128128/frances-gift-horse-nod-chinas-unbridled-influence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2128128/frances-gift-horse-nod-chinas-unbridled-influence?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jan 2018 08:03:58 +0000 A surgeon in northeastern China accused of asking a patient to pay for an add-on procedure while she was undergoing an operation is being investigated by the health authorities, according to a local media report. The 20-year-old patient, identified only as Jiang Meng, was diagnosed with cervical erosion by a doctor at a hospital in Dalian, a port city in Liaoning province, New Culture Daily reported on Friday. The doctor, surnamed Wang, said Jiang needed to undergo surgery immediately, and she... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128023/chinese-doctor-under-investigation-after-asking-patient-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2128023/chinese-doctor-under-investigation-after-asking-patient-more?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2018 10:09:24 +0000 Doctors in China have used virtual reality technology and 3D imaging to allow a surgeon to help in an operation taking place thousands of kilometres away, according to a newspaper report. Doctors performed the surgery on a bone fracture at a hospital in Bortala in the Xinjiang region of northwest China on Monday, the Xinjiang Morning Post reported. The chief doctor Ye Zhewei was, however, in a hospital in Wuhan in central Hubei province, about 3,700km (2,300 miles) away. Ye was able to follow... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127977/chinese-doctors-use-virtual-reality-tech-help-operation-3700km?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127977/chinese-doctors-use-virtual-reality-tech-help-operation-3700km?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2018 08:25:19 +0000 After reporting its best winter air quality for five years in December, Beijing said on Friday it is gearing up for its first major smog of the year. Heavy pollution is set to engulf the Chinese capital and the neighbouring region – comprising the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan, and the port city of Tianjin – from today until Wednesday, the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre said. An orange smog alert, the second-highest in a four-tier system, will come into effect in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127950/beijing-halt-construction-smog-closes-just-weeks-after-clearest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127950/beijing-halt-construction-smog-closes-just-weeks-after-clearest?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2018 06:11:44 +0000 Donations have flooded in after a picture of young boy with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice after a long trek to school during freezing temperatures in a poor area of western China went viral online. The boy’s father has also been offered a job in his hometown so he will no longer have to leave his family and work away from home. The first batch of 100,000 yuan (US$15,370) was handed over by the local authorities to Zhuangshanbao primary school in a rural area of Zhaotong in Yunnan... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127930/donations-pour-after-ice-boy-frozen-trek-school-moves-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127930/donations-pour-after-ice-boy-frozen-trek-school-moves-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000 A police officer in eastern China pulled a teenager from an 18th storey window ledge on Sunday after fearing the boy was about to jump, state media reported. Fu Guoping, deputy director of police in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, said he and his colleagues responded to a call from a friend of the youngster’s who claimed the boy had posted messages on social media saying he was at home and planning to kill himself, China News Service reported on Wednesday. When the officers arrived at his flat they... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127798/chinese-policeman-saves-suicidal-schoolboy-who-wanted-never-grow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127798/chinese-policeman-saves-suicidal-schoolboy-who-wanted-never-grow?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2018 07:15:45 +0000 A retired Chinese grandmother made 8,000 yuan (US$1,300) in the space of five days by playing live-gaming apps. Surnamed Zhao, she began to play live trivia contests on apps after her children introduced them to her over the new year, Beijing Morning Post reported. Although her age has raised eyebrows – many younger people have reportedly become addicted to the competitions – so too has her tech-savvy winning technique, which has prompted her daughter to jokingly accuse her mother of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127797/young-heart-chinese-grandmother-proves-be-hi-tech-quizmaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127797/young-heart-chinese-grandmother-proves-be-hi-tech-quizmaster?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2018 07:00:45 +0000 A photograph of a boy from a poor family with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice after walking to school for over an hour in freezing temperatures has touched the hearts of people in China. The picture of the child, Wang Fuman – clad in thin clothing and with ruddy cheeks from the cold – was taken at Zhuanshanbao primary school in a rural area of Zhaotong in Yunnan province. The boy had just walked 4.5km (2.8 miles) from his home to school when a teacher took his photograph, the news website... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127651/poor-chinese-boys-freezing-trek-school-touches-hearts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127651/poor-chinese-boys-freezing-trek-school-touches-hearts?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 08:30:45 +0000 Police in a town in southwest China say some parents are not cooperating with an investigation into a man detained for illegally driving their children to and from school in an overloaded van because they want him to resume the service, a local newspaper reports. The 36-year-old driver, surnamed Zhao, was arrested on December 7 in the town of Fuhong in Chengdu, Sichuan province, a week after he was found to be driving 20 pupils to school in a seven-seater van, Chengdu Commercial Daily reported... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2127631/chinese-police-say-parents-unfazed-after-driver-overloaded-school-bus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2127631/chinese-police-say-parents-unfazed-after-driver-overloaded-school-bus?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 07:14:32 +0000 A couple from southern China posted selfies online after their home was badly damaged in a fire. The couple from Guilin in the Guangxi region took the pictures after a fire broke out when they used a heater to dry and warm clothes. The couple and a friend later posted pictures and videos on social media. The photographs show the couple with blackened faces and hands, with the damage shown to their house. The couple put out the fire with the help of neighbours and no one was injured, but their... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127592/chirpy-chinese-couple-take-selfies-after-fire-damages-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127592/chirpy-chinese-couple-take-selfies-after-fire-damages-home?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 04:07:45 +0000 International airports at China’s main financial centre are on extreme cold-weather alert, putting squads of snowploughs and de-icers on standby as a deep freeze grips much of the country. Shanghai’s airport authority said on Tuesday that services at the Hongqiao and Pudong facilities were running as usual but flight delays were still possible as temperatures plunged to freezing. “The blizzards hit many domestic airports and may cause delays to flights arriving and departing from the two... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127532/shanghais-international-airports-keep-calm-and-carry-chinas-deep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127532/shanghais-international-airports-keep-calm-and-carry-chinas-deep?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jan 2018 13:46:50 +0000 A city in southwest China has set up 37 sets of traffic lights at one crossroads, prompting bafflement among Chinese internet users over the high number of signals. The lights were installed at a busy intersection in Chengdu in Sichuan province, the Huaxi City Daily reported. The local authorities say the signals are needed because of the high congestion at the junction. A property agent in the area was quoted as saying that the construction of a metro station nearby had also led to chaotic... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127443/drivers-baffled-37-sets-lights-set-china-crossroads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127443/drivers-baffled-37-sets-lights-set-china-crossroads?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jan 2018 05:40:38 +0000 One of China’s biggest cities has started using facial recognition technology in an effort to root out bogus marriages, local media has reported. This month the Marriage and Adoption Registration Management Centre in Chongqing will introduce the new technology, Beijing Youth Daily reported. The newspaper said the authorities hoped it would simplify and shorten the process of registering newly married couples, but would also help to prevent people from registering for marriage under a false... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127428/facial-recognition-technology-used-screen-newlyweds-chinese-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127428/facial-recognition-technology-used-screen-newlyweds-chinese-city?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jan 2018 04:58:31 +0000 A section of a new “solar highway” in eastern China has been stolen just five days after it opened, local media has reported. The one-kilometre stretch of photovoltaic highway – built of solar panels which cars can drive over – opened for testing in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province on December 28. During a routine inspection last Tuesday, staff found that it had been vandalised and a portion of it was missing, Qilu Evening News reported. A narrow 1.8-metre panel had been removed and seven... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127321/thieves-shut-chinas-solar-highway-after-just-five-days?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127321/thieves-shut-chinas-solar-highway-after-just-five-days?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 09:00:45 +0000 Just last winter air purifiers sold themselves in the smog-choked Chinese capital but fast-forward a year and sales of the home appliances have slowed to a trickle as air quality has improved in Beijing, Chinese media reported on Monday. A combination of favourable weather and tighter pollution controls resulted in Beijing reporting its best winter air quality in five years last month. The city had a run of 25 days when its air quality was rated “excellent” or “good”. According to Beijing’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127303/air-quality-improving-beijing-winter-and-thats-bad-news-some-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127303/air-quality-improving-beijing-winter-and-thats-bad-news-some-home?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 08:15:15 +0000 Dating apps run by 21 firms in China have been closed down amid allegations of fraud involving hundreds of thousands of customers, according to a newspaper report. Some of the apps claimed customers could chat with “sexy girls” online, but clients found themself messaging and receiving answers from artificial intelligence computer programs instead, the New Express reported. Other scams involved customers paying to watch videos with sexual content, but they were unable to load and view the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127278/chinese-apps-shut-down-after-sexy-girls-chat-scam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127278/chinese-apps-shut-down-after-sexy-girls-chat-scam?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 06:45:45 +0000 A team of stamp collectors began queuing on Sunday in Shanghai to make sure they did not miss out on the latest Lunar New Year commemorative issues that went on sale on Friday morning. Dozens of others queued overnight to buy the highly prized stamps, which are issued annually by China Post and depict the relevant Chinese zodiacal animal, Chinese media reported The latest stamps commemorate the Year of the Dog. Many of the people queuing outside Jingan district post office on Friday were... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126989/chinese-collectors-queue-all-night-buy-year-dog-stamps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126989/chinese-collectors-queue-all-night-buy-year-dog-stamps?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 07:30:45 +0000 An off-duty police officer in southwestern China foiled the theft off an electric bicycle this week only to have his rental bike stolen in the process, according to a local news website. Gao Xiaoping, who works in the city of Leshan, Sichuan province, was on his way to the gym on Tuesday evening when he spotted a suspicious-looking man pushing an electric bicycle along the road, Thecover.cn reported. Chinese girls, five and eight, rented by parents to crime gang The officer got off his bike,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126983/chinese-policeman-has-rented-bicycle-stolen-while-arresting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126983/chinese-policeman-has-rented-bicycle-stolen-while-arresting?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:38:15 +0000 A brother and sister from southern China separated by war for 78 years have finally been reunited, according to Chinese media reports. Weng Qimei, 90, shed tears of joy as she shared a long embrace with her younger brother when they met in Shantou in Guangdong province, Guangzhou Daily reported. The siblings were reunited with the help of Dream Back to Chaoshan, a volunteer organisation helping people trace separated relatives. Chinese girl adopted by American family miraculously reunited with... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126979/chinese-brother-and-sister-torn-apart-war-meet-first-time-78?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126979/chinese-brother-and-sister-torn-apart-war-meet-first-time-78?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:30:45 +0000 Blizzards in central China have killed at least 10 people and affected more than 560,000 others this week, with eight people dead in Anhui province alone, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Friday. Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu are the worst-hit provinces, with the storms inflicting an estimated 510 million yuan (US$78.6 million) in economic losses since Tuesday, according to ministry figures. Up to 410mm of snow blanketed parts of Henan, Hubei and Anhui provinces. The blizzards... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126964/china-lifts-blizzard-alert-more-snow-freezing-rain-and-sleet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126964/china-lifts-blizzard-alert-more-snow-freezing-rain-and-sleet?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 05:22:19 +0000 Two Chinese girls aged five and eight from separate families have been taken into care after their parents hired them out to a crime gang to work as shoplifters, according to a news website report. The parents, from Dao county in central China’s Hunan province, charged the syndicate 50,000 yuan (US$7,700) a year to use their children as thieves, Beijing Youth Daily reported online. Chinese boy, 12, steals bus and takes it on a 40-minute joyride The girls were made to shoplift in shopping centres... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126936/chinese-girls-five-and-eight-rented-parents-crime-gang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126936/chinese-girls-five-and-eight-rented-parents-crime-gang?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 03:15:00 +0000 A Chinese mother who paid 450,000 yuan (US$69,200) for a baby delivered by a surrogate mother in Cambodia says she is struggling to cover the cost of her son’s medical care after he was born with a serious illness, a Chinese news website reports. The mother, surnamed Lin, said she had spent more than 2 million yuan on treatment for her baby since he was born in July and diagnosed with brain atrophy in October, Kanfa News reported on Wednesday. The condition means the baby’s brain has not... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126868/chinese-mother-struggling-pay-medical-bills-surrogate-baby-brain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126868/chinese-mother-struggling-pay-medical-bills-surrogate-baby-brain?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jan 2018 09:18:16 +0000 A buffalo painting competition has been held in China as part of a traditional festival celebrated by people from China, Laos and Vietnam, Chinese state media reported. The competition was held on December 31 in Jincheng county in Yunnan province, near the border with Laos and Vietnam, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The event attracted more than 30 teams of artists from the three countries. The bodies of each buffalo were painted to represent a theme, including local culture, China’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126856/buffalo-painting-contest-held-southwest-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126856/buffalo-painting-contest-held-southwest-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jan 2018 08:43:35 +0000 A man from central China has been dubbed the hardest working delivery man in his city after it was revealed that he drops off an average of over 60 takeaway food orders each day. Jiang Lin said on busy days in Changsha in Hunan province he can make about 90 deliveries and his record is 110, the Sanxiang Metropolis Daily reported. Jiang usually works about 13 hours each day and earns more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,500) a month. He is now saving money to buy a house for his family. Dinner at your... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126824/supercharged-work-rate-chinese-takeout-delivery-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126824/supercharged-work-rate-chinese-takeout-delivery-man?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jan 2018 06:44:28 +0000 A new sports centre taking shape in central China is drawing comparisons with the iconic “Bird’s Nest” stadium in Beijing, according to Chinese media reports. The structure of the Olympic Sports Centre being built in Zhengzhou, Henan province appears to closely resemble that of the National Stadium built for the Beijing Olympics, Dahe Daily newspaper reported on Wednesday. Known as the “Bird’s Nest”, the stadium was designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron and has become a tourist attraction in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126814/another-birds-nest-china-feathers-fly-over-zhengzhous-new-stadium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126814/another-birds-nest-china-feathers-fly-over-zhengzhous-new-stadium?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jan 2018 06:17:27 +0000 A nursery rhyme sung in a French kindergarten has been criticised online for being racist towards Chinese people. The song, titled Zhang, my little Chinese, was taught at an unnamed school in Aubervilliers, a northeastern suburb of Paris, for more than a decade, China News Service reported on Monday. Despite its longevity, a row started online after “an Asian parent” posted a video of it on Facebook on December 26, French newspaper Le Figaro reported. It was not clear who had produced the video.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126654/chinese-internet-users-furious-racist-french-nursery-rhyme?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126654/chinese-internet-users-furious-racist-french-nursery-rhyme?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jan 2018 07:00:15 +0000 A zoo in southern China has started using virtual reality and QR codes to allow visitors to get closer than ever to its animals, according to local media reports. As people move through the various sections of Guangzhou Zoo in Guangdong province, they have the opportunity to “interact” with animals via VR headsets and their mobile phones, China News Service reported on Tuesday. Visitors to Chinese zoo feel deflated after discovering new penguin display consists of blow-up toys In some areas,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126494/chinese-zoo-uses-virtual-reality-allow-visitors-interact-animals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126494/chinese-zoo-uses-virtual-reality-allow-visitors-interact-animals?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Jan 2018 07:09:31 +0000 One of China’s smallest escalators has gone viral on social media after web users questioned their purpose – especially since no one appears to have felt the need to repair it when it broke down several years ago. Pictures of the non-moving staircase, located in front of the entrance of a major shopping centre in the southwestern city of Chongqing were widely shared on social media – often with sarcastic comments. It currently carries a note saying “The escalator is out of service. Do not ride... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125450/what-point-chinese-web-users-mock-shopping-centres-tiny-escalator?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125450/what-point-chinese-web-users-mock-shopping-centres-tiny-escalator?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:30:00 +0000 A state-owned travel agency in Tibet autonomous region has launched temporary aerial tours of its capital city, Lhasa, Chinese media reports. The helicopter service is run by Lhasa Snow Eagle General Aviation Corporation (Snow Eagle GAC) and lasts around 15 minutes, China News Service reported. The tour, which takes off by the River Lhasa, offers visitors a bird’s-eye view of the city’s biggest attractions: Potala Palace, a World Heritage Site; Jokhang, a Buddhist temple that is hailed as the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125437/new-helicopter-tours-over-lhasa-offer-visitors-views-over-roof?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125437/new-helicopter-tours-over-lhasa-offer-visitors-views-over-roof?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:04:06 +0000 Authorities in southern China have released 276 illegally acquired horseshoe crabs back into the sea, local media reports. Horseshoe crabs are categorised as a Class II protected species in China, making it illegal to kill, transport or trade them. The crabs were seized on December 15 from a shop in Beihai, a port city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, during a routine inspection, China News Service reported on Tuesday. Police officers from Guangxi’s frontier defence force worked with the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124918/chinese-authorities-release-more-200-illegally-acquired-horseshoe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124918/chinese-authorities-release-more-200-illegally-acquired-horseshoe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Dec 2017 07:30:00 +0000 A Chinese mother who sued a live-streaming company for a refund after her daughter ran up a bill for 650,000 yuan (US$98,000) without her knowledge has lost her case. The 16-year-old daughter ran up the bill in the space of three months by tipping male live-streaming hosts on Inke, China’s top live streaming app, Legal Evening News reported. The mother, surnamed Liu, claimed that her daughter secretly registered an account on Inke and used online payment platforms that were in her mother’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124820/chinese-mother-sues-live-streaming-firm-after-daughter-ran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124820/chinese-mother-sues-live-streaming-firm-after-daughter-ran?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Dec 2017 11:23:06 +0000 A set of 12 landscape paintings by Qi Baishi, one of China’s best known artists, sold for 931.5 million yuan (US$141 million) at auction in Beijing on Sunday – setting a new record for a Chinese artwork. Qi’s Twelve Landscape Screens, painted in 1925, started at 450 million yuan, with more than 60 bids placed in 20 minutes, Xinhua reported on Monday. Late Hong Kong tycoon’s Chinese abstract art project to continue Zhao Xu, executive director of Poly Auction, told China News Service that the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124773/qi-baishi-paintings-fetch-record-us141-million-auction?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124773/qi-baishi-paintings-fetch-record-us141-million-auction?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Dec 2017 08:23:56 +0000 A man has been arrested on suspicion of robbing more than 80 graves in mountain cemeteries in eastern China. The 50-year-old man, identified only by his surname Zhu, is suspected to have dug up and stolen valuables from 81 graves in mountains across Tonglu county, Zhejiang province, City Express Hangzhou reported. Local police said the stolen goods, including packets of cash, jewellery, phones, cameras and jade, were worth a total of 20,000 yuan (US$3,025). Tomb raider gangs arrested after... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124500/chinese-man-arrested-suspicion-robbing-valuables-more-80-graves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124500/chinese-man-arrested-suspicion-robbing-valuables-more-80-graves?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:40:05 +0000 China’s first medical drone dropped off much-needed supplies to a remote cliff-top village on Thursday, Chinese media reported. The drone was photographed hovering over the village of Atule’er in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, about 1,400 metres above sea level, China News Service reported. The village in southwestern China made headlines in 2016 when it was revealed that children had to climb 17 vine ladders attached to the cliff face to get to school and back. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124466/chinas-first-medical-drone-delivers-life-saving-supplies-cliff?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124466/chinas-first-medical-drone-delivers-life-saving-supplies-cliff?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Dec 2017 06:57:37 +0000 China’s ban on the ivory trade has won widespread public support, according to a survey commissioned by conservation groups. The joint report for Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, and WWF suggested that more than half of ivory buyers had stopped after China’s State Council announced a ban on December 30, 2016. Overall it found that 86 per cent of the public supported the ban. Under the ban, the commercial processing and sale of ivory and ivory products must stop at the end of this... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124365/chinas-ivory-ban-gains-public-support-country-looks-stamp-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124365/chinas-ivory-ban-gains-public-support-country-looks-stamp-out?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2017 15:00:21 +0000 A Chinese soccer academy co-founded by legendary Portuguese player Luis Figo has shut without explanation, leaving its young trainees in the lurch. The Winning League Figo Football Academy in Chengdu, Sichuan province, had not held training sessions for two months and staff had not been seen on the premises, Chengdu Economic Daily reported. After successful launches in Shanghai and Beijing, the Chengdu branch opened in June 2015 following a deal between Figo and the Chengdu Football... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124307/young-chinese-trainees-left-kicking-their-heels-after-luis-figo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124307/young-chinese-trainees-left-kicking-their-heels-after-luis-figo?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2017 07:26:28 +0000 A Chinese live-streaming website has come under fire for airing feeds from surveillance cameras, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Wednesday. The report said a man and a woman dressed in pyjamas were seen in footage aired on Shuidi, the live broadcast website operated by Qihoo 360 Technology. More than 23,000 people watched the footage on the platform, which also identified the couple’s location, it said. China warns against livestreaming after 'rooftopper' falls to death In another feed from... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124158/chinese-tech-firm-told-stop-watching-us-after-footage-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124158/chinese-tech-firm-told-stop-watching-us-after-footage-security?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Dec 2017 08:30:45 +0000 Workers are digging up large quantities of ice and building thousands of sculptures ahead of the 19th edition of the annual festival at Harbin Ice and Snow World park, according to China’s state broadcaster. The biggest ice exhibition in the world, the theme park will open on Christmas Day in the capital of China’s northernmost province, Heilongjiang, CCTV reported. This year’s festival is bigger than usual, leading workers to commence operations early. The good, bad and ugly sides to visiting... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123997/chinas-ice-and-snow-world-park-open-christmas-day?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123997/chinas-ice-and-snow-world-park-open-christmas-day?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Dec 2017 09:06:14 +0000 It might have been big news in Britain, but the announcement late last month that Prince Harry had popped the question to his American girlfriend Meghan Markle barely caused a ripple of interest in China. “Chinese people really don’t care about the British royal family. We’re different from Australians,” a man surnamed Zhou from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen wrote on the Twitter-like microblogging platform Weibo. Another social media user seemed more concerned with clarifying which... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123195/harry-and-meghan-who-chinas-souvenir-makers-not-holding-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123195/harry-and-meghan-who-chinas-souvenir-makers-not-holding-their?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2017 10:32:10 +0000 A flight attendant who was suspended after footage emerged showing her eating a leftover passenger meal had made the video intentionally, the airline said in a statement on Friday, December 8. According to Urumqi Air, the attendant filmed herself eating the leftovers and then posted the video on social media. Friday’s statement comes a day after the airline’s first response on to the video, which said the attendant had been suspended. The new information has led some internet users who had... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123304/chinese-air-stewardess-suspended-eating-leftover-meal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123304/chinese-air-stewardess-suspended-eating-leftover-meal?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:10:05 +0000 The first winter ice has appeared on the Yellow River in northern China a few weeks earlier than normal. State television broadcast footage of the drifting ice that had started to form on a section of the river in Hequ county in Shanxi province on Thursday. CCTV said the ice began to form at the end of last week, which is about a fortnight earlier than in previous years because of a cold snap that hit the region. Hequ is normally the first place in Shanxi where the river freezes. Ice has also... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123291/winter-freeze-comes-early-chinas-yellow-river?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2123291/winter-freeze-comes-early-chinas-yellow-river?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Dec 2017 06:15:00 +0000